The Cheese Coney
A cheese coney is a kind of chili dog from Cincinnati, Ohio. I've never been to Ohio in my life, but the kids at my old job wouldn't shut up about it. The thing that makes a Cincinnati chili dog different from any other chili dog is that it uses Cincinnati chili, which is a bit different from the usual chili that goes on a hot dog. It's more like a Greek meat sauce, but Americanized? It was supposedly invented by the Kiradjieff brothers, who were Macedonian-Bulgarians.
This seems to be controversial among certain people, for some reason. I don't know. It's Balkan stuff, so it's to be expected. These guys were ethnic Bulgarians from Macedonia (the region, not the current country named Macedonia). Their hometown was an Aromanian-majority village in what is now northern Greece. At the time they were born, though, it was in the Ottoman Empire. At least two of them served in the Bulgarian military. I don't know what any of these guys would have self-identified as, though. The point is, well...
Five things I know about Cincinnati off the top of my head right now:
- Cincinnati chili
- if you top spaghetti with the chili and some shredded cheddar, it's called a three-way (I made the three-way with my leftover chili and it honestly kind of sucked compared to the cheese coney)
- idk
- ...
- there's that one band Defiance, Ohio, but they're from Columbus.
The Cincinnati Chili
I found some solid recipes from Ohioans with high ratings from other Ohioans. The ones that I ended up kitbashing had comments underneath like, "I've never had a chili this spicy anywhere in Cincinnati!" ...and they weren't spicy. They weren't spicy, like, at all. My wife, who dislikes spicy food, thought it needed more spice.
WHAT YOU NEED
- 250g ground beef
- 250ml water
- 75g minced yellow onion
- 1 1/2 cloves finely minced garlic
- 1/4 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar 5% (I had white wine vinegar, so I used that instead)
- 1-2 tbsp condensed tomato paste
- hot sauce to taste (I used a mixture of Valentina and buffalo, because it's what I had)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tbsp chili powder (I didn't have this, so I made my own on the fly from various Mexican powdered chiles I had. I honestly couldn't tell you the measurements.)
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried mediterranean oregano
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 packet of active dry yeast (Seriously! This came up a couple times in the recipes I read. I added it in towards the end, and it really changed everything for the better.)
- salt, white pepper, and msg to taste (I bet black pepper would be fine, too)
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HOW-TO
- Put the beef in a pan or pot. Break it up a bit with a wooden spoon or whatever, then pour in the water.
- Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Keep breaking up the meat and simmering until it's all cooked through and broken into tiny flecks.
- Mix in literally every other ingredient.
- Let it cook until it thickens up completely, then adjust the seasoning.
The Cheese Coney
Here's the main event. The spaghetti is lame. Make the dog and call it a night.
WHAT YOU NEED
- 1 hot dog
- 1 hot dog bun (I buttered it)
- some hot Cincinnati chili
- shredded cheddar (the recipes said mild or medium, but I think I want sharp next time I make these)
- some minced raw yellow onion
- Cook up your dog how you like. Idk if they steam or boil these, or what. I cooked mine in a pan with a bit of oil.
- Warm up your bun how you like, then put the dog in it.
- Top the dog with the chili, minced onions, and shredded cheese.
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TIPS AND TRICKS
- Disclaimer that this probably tastes nothing like they have in Cincinnati because I literally just saw it on, like, a Guy Fieri video or something and was, like, "Woah, I could totally make this, and since the chili isn't, like, chili-chili, then maybe my wife would like it." Honestly, the main impetus behind my wanting to make a chili dog in the first place was, like, this video I saw a kid at my old work watch, in which Sonic the Hedghehog ate a chili dog. I was all, like, "I wonder what chili dogs taste like," because I never had a chili dog in my life before this one. Chili dogs are kind of rad.
- Next time, I'm putting jalapeño on there. It needs it.